


Love and War

by parkrstark



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 05:10:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6270883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkrstark/pseuds/parkrstark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If you die, I die. That’s how this relationship works.”</p><p>“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”  </p><p>“Yeah, well, suck it up because that’s how it is. Till the wheels fall off, remember?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love and War

**Author's Note:**

> I'm swamped with work and migraines and studying this week so Ii wasn't able to write much of any of my other WIPs. SO this was just something I threw together in an hour to clear out some writer's lock. 
> 
> It's not beta'd and full of mistakes probably. I apologize in advance.

“You’ve gotta go on without me, Ryan,” Esposito said between clenched teeth. He looked down at his stomach where he had his hands wrapped around himself. He was covering the spot that he had been hit with a bullet. “I’m just holding you back. You’ll make it out of here if you run.”

 

“No.” Ryan shook his head. “I’m not leaving you here.” Ryan looked around their makeshift cover. “He can’t see us and I haven’t seen him in a few minutes. We can get away.”

 

Esposito sighed. “Look at me; I won’t be able to walk or run like this.  _ You  _ need to get away and save yourself before he comes back.”

 

“If you die, I die. That’s how this relationship works.” Ryan narrowed his eyes stubbornly at his partner. 

 

“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” Esposito said and Ryan could already tell his voice was growing weaker. 

 

“Yeah, well, suck it up because that’s how it is. Till the wheels fall off, remember?” Ryan picked up his gun and checked to see if he still had some bullets left. 

 

“Stop being ridiculous.” Esposito tried to fix his position behind the couch that had been turned on it’s side during the beginning fight. “You’re getting out of here alive. If not, how else are you supposed to avenge my death?”

 

Ryan glared at Esposito. “Hey, stop it. You’re not going to die because we’re getting out of here.” He tucked his gun in the band of his pants and leaned over to put his arms underneath his back and legs. With a grunt, he pushed himself up and kneels with Esposito in his arms. 

 

“Ryan, what the hell are you doing?” Esposito moved his arms immediately to wrap around his partner’s neck.

 

“You said it yourself, you can’t walk outta here. Looks like I’m carrying you,” Ryan said, fixing his hold on Esposito causing him to wince slightly as he held his stomach. 

 

“Kev, c’mon, stop it. We both know,” Esposito paused to take a steadying breath before continuing, “you’ll get farther without me.”

 

“ _ You _ stop it. I’m not doing this without you, drama queen.” Ryan peeked around their cover and made his way into the open room. He was trying to keep his eye out for the man that shot Espo just in case this was a trap. 

 

Esposito lifted his own gun to keep them protected since Ryan had his tucked away as he carried him. “Fine, if you get shot too, don’t--.” Esposito was caught off guard when Ryan kissed him. It wasn’t as good as they usually shared and a bit awkward because of the angle, but it was still enough to put a smile on Esposito’s face. “What was that for?”

 

Ryan smiled down at him. “Just in case.” Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “And to shut you up.”

 

Esposito wished he had more strength to lift himself up and steal another kiss. Ryan seemed to read his mind though and was about to lean down so they could share another kiss, but a smug laugh stopped them. 

 

“Too bad it will be your last.”

 

Ryan turned around slowly to where the voice came from. There was a gun pointed directly at them and the man holding it wore a smirk. “You could have made it. You would have lived if you left your partner behind.”

 

Ryan stood his ground and held Esposito closer to his chest, ignoring the slight burn in his arms. “You know I would never do that.”

 

He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, that’s not my problem. You two tried to run. You thought you could win. Here’s where I prove you wrong.” He raised his gun and clicked off the safety. 

 

Ryan narrowed his eyes as Esposito raised his gun weakly. They weren’t going down without a fight. “Let’s see about--.”

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

Ryan was so startled by the new voice in the room that he jumped in the air and almost dropped Esposito. He turned around with a bright red face to see Beckett and Alexis standing in the doorway of the loft. Alexis was trying to stifle her laughter as Beckett stared at the three boys in concern and confusion. 

 

“Honey,” Castle said weakly, lowering the Nerf gun he was pointing at Esposito. “You’re home early.”

 

Beckett raised her eyebrows, looking around at her loft that was a mess and looked like a battlefield. Ryan cleared his throat. “We can explain.”

 

Beckett turned her attention to him. “Why don’t you start with why you’re holding Espo?”

 

Oh, right. Ryan chuckled nervously and lowered Esposito to his feet. “Uh, we were bored and started a Nerf war...Javi was shot by Castle…”

 

Esposito picked up from where Ryan trailed off. “I couldn’t move and Ryan was going to get us out alive.” He straightened his shirt. 

 

“It was me and Javier against Castle,” Ryan finished and rubbed the back of his neck. 

 

Beckett stared at each of them for a long moment before she asked, “Is this really what you three do when we go away for the weekend? Shoot each other with Nerf guns?”

 

Castle threw gun his to the couch, but forgot that they had moved it earlier to be a fort and the gun crashed to the floor with a bang. Castle winced before walking closer to the boys. “What did you expect?”

 

Beckett and Alexis exchanged a look before the redhead responded, “We expected to see you passed out naked somewhere, Esposito with a new tattoo and Ryan sleeping on the kitchen table.  _ Again. _ ” Alexis crossed her arms over her chest, knowing there was no way they could deny that; she had come to find them after a night of drinking enough times to know what stupid things they did.

 

Castle hesitated. “If you had come home  _ last night _ , you would’ve been right.”

 

“We can’t leave you alone, can we?” Beckett asked, although there was a smile on her face. “Because even with a Nerf gun, you cause trouble and mess up our entire loft.”

 

“Well, the mess is from when we were drunk, but then this morning we thought it would make a great battleground. It did.” Castle reached both of his hands out to feed the birds with Ryan and Esposito. 

 

Beckett picked up a stray Nerf bullet from the side table by the door. She raised her eyebrows at Espo as she squeezed it between her fingers. “And really, Espo? This thing hurt you so much that Ryan had to carry you?”

 

“He was shot in the stomach and was bleeding out for a while, Beckett. There was no way he was getting up on his own,” Ryan said seriously. 

 

“That was a great touch, by the way, Ry.” Castle nudged his shoulder with a smile. 

 

Esposito answered Beckett in a no-nonsense tone, “We take our Nerf wars very seriously.”

 

Beckett laughed and flicked the bullet at him. “I can see that. Now it’s time to take cleaning my apartment very seriously.”

 

“Well, there’s our cue to leave.” Esposito grabbed Ryan’s hand but Beckett shook her head. 

 

“I don’t think so, boys. This place better be spotless by the time Alexis and I are done unpacking.” She didn’t give them any time to complain before she turned around to start walking down the hall. “Have fun, boys,” she said over her shoulder before she left them in their mess. 

 

As she walked away, she could hear them arguing about who won the Nerf. Beckett rolled her eyes at them. They were acting like 5-year-olds, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. 


End file.
